By Daniel M. Clark
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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BECOMING A PODCASTER by Daniel M. Clark Powered by BlogWorld The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Podcaster Copyright © New Media Expo 2012 Written by Daniel M. Clark for New Media Expo Edited by Amber Avines Designed by Jessica Boyer An excerpt of this eBook may be shared without seeking permission, if credited to New Media Expo with a link back to www.blogworld.com. www.NMXlive.com | @NewMediaExpo | (858) 309-4747 | Copyright © New Media Expo 2012 The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Podcaster Table Of Contents Chapter One: Introduction 5 Who am I? 6 A little more before we get started... 6 Chapter Two: Why Podcast? 9 Just What is Podcasting? 9 Why You Should Podcast 11 It’s Fun 11 It’s Easy 12 It’s Inexpensive 13 There Isn’t A Lot Of Competition 14 Expectations Are Low 15 It’s Quite Profitable (Potentially) 15 They Are Unregulated 16 They Are Ultra-Portable 17 Why Podcasters Do What They Do 18 Cliff Ravenscraft 19 Shawn Collins 19 Daniel J. Lewis 19 Randy Cantrell 20 Ray Ortega 20 Ron “Aalgar” Watt 21 Matt Rowbotham 22 Chapter Three: Setting Up 23 The Show Overview 23 The Topic 24 The Talent 25 The Length 26 The Schedule 27 The Show Name 28 Who is the Intended Audience? 30 The Artwork 31 The Website 32 Who is the Competition? 33 Monetization Overview: Speaking Links 34 Considering Assets 39 Equipment 39 Your Computer 40 USB Microphones 41 Professional Mics 43 Mixers 50 A Basic Mix-Minus 53 Digital Audio Recorders (DAR) 54 Professional Headphones 55 Podcasting On The Go 57 Artwork 58 Making It Good 58 www.NMXlive.com | @NewMediaExpo | (858) 309-4747 | Copyright © New Media Expo 2012 The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Podcaster Chapter Four: Production 60 Recording 60 Software 61 Environment 69 Microphone Technique 71 Using Your Voice 75 Using Soundboards 77 Editing 79 Parts Of A Multitrack Editor 79 Basic Editing Tasks 84 ID3 Tags 92 Chapter Five: Publishing 100 Media Hosting 100 Amazon S3 101 Blubrry 103 Libsyn 104 What is FTP? 105 Stats Tracking 111 Setting up Wordpress 114 Settings 115 Category Structure 117 PowerPress and RSS 119 Plugins 130 The Site’s Theme and Layout 131 Setting up other Platforms 133 Getting Into Directories 136 iTunes 137 Zune 139 Other Directories 140 Chapter Six: Feedback 141 Post Comments 141 Contact Pages 143 Contact Form 144 Email Address 145 Social Media Links 147 Call-in Lines 148 Skype 148 Google Voice 153 Social Media 158 Chapter Seven: In Conclusion 159 About the Author 160 About New Media Expo 161 www.NMXlive.com | @NewMediaExpo | (858) 309-4747 | Copyright © New Media Expo 2012 The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Podcaster | Page 5 Chapter One: Introduction Hello, there! Welcome to the show, this is episode number…wait. Sorry. Habit. This is The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Podcaster, your favorite new book about the exciting medium of, well, podcasting. Produced by New Media Expo (the Artist Formerly Known as BlogWorld) and written by me, Daniel M. Clark, this tome aims to take you from zero to podcast in…however many pages this thing has. I’m writing it out of order, you see, and… well, never mind. Zero to podcast! With facts! And tutorials! And humor! Such as it is. And lots and lots of pictures so I could pad my page count show you exactly how to get things done! This book is for podcasters at the beginner level (with some intermediate thrown in to keep things exciting). Podcasting has come a long way from its roots in the internet of the late 90’s and early 00’s. What began as basic spoken-audio file sharing has evolved into syndicated radio-style productions that today rival both radio and television in terms of quality, production values, and style. Companies are pumping money into the medium at a tremendous rate. Major television networks and movie studios are producing podcasts to go along with their shows and films. And celebrities have embraced the format—especially comedians, who have taken to podcasting in huge numbers. News outlets like CNN and NBC News and sports networks like ESPN produce podcasts. www.NMXlive.com | @NewMediaExpo | (858) 309-4747 | Copyright © New Media Expo 2012 The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Podcaster | Page 6 It’s a really exciting time to be a podcaster. The best part? You can do it, too. You don’t need a ton of money. You don’t need to go to school to learn how to do it. You don’t need to have a voice like Oprah or Brian Williams. You probably already have the basic tools necessary to get started, and if you don’t, I’ll show you what you need and where to get it. Who am I? I’m Daniel, and I’ve been podcasting since December 22, 2008. I have created, produced and/or hosted nine shows accounting for nearly 300 episodes. I love podcasting! In 2010 I launched a podcast network called QAQN (because I really wanted a four-letter dot-com and it was available cheap1). I’ve given presentations about podcasting, I’ve consulted clients about it, written about it for the NMX blog, and here I am now, tapped by NMX to write the Daniel M. Clark Ultimate Guide to getting started with it. Fantastic! There’s so much awesomeness coming up that I don’t want to take up any more of your time, so I have just a few more things to lay on you here in the introduction. If you’d like to know more about me, my About the Author page at the end of the book has some additional information. A little more before we get started... This book focuses almost exclusively on audio podcasting. I will occasionally touch on video podcasting and screencasts, but really only in passing. Video adds a whole new set of problems, challenges and rewards to podcasting, and it’s beyond the scope of this book. Don’t worry though: everything you learn here can be used to make video productions sound awesome. If you don’t have great audio, it doesn’t matter how fantabulous your moving pictures are. 1. I also thought that the N might stand for Network and that eventually I’d figure out what the QAQ might stand for. I haven’t. The best I’ve heard so far is “quackin’,” which…I guess I’ll take. www.NMXlive.com | @NewMediaExpo | (858) 309-4747 | Copyright © New Media Expo 2012 The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Podcaster | Page 7 Speaking of “beyond the scope of this book,” you will find that there is a strong bias toward Wordpress going forward. This is not to say that you can’t be a very successful podcaster using another platform! I will be touching on setting-up other platforms, but with over 120 Content Management Systems to choose from2, I cannot reasonably give non-Wordpress instruction on everything. The book would end up six times longer and excessively convoluted. If you have a question about another platform, please join the NMX community on Facebook and you’ll get pointed in the right direction. There are a dozen ways—at least— to become a podcaster. This book examines only a few, but you will be able to start and publish your own shows by the time we’re done. From there, further exploration and research can take you in many different directions! Speaking of the book ending up “six times longer and excessively convoluted,” please know that while I would absolutely love to include information about every piece of software available for every task, it’s just not humanly possible. I will talk, for example, about Skype at length because Skype is used by just about everyone in a podcasting situation. I cannot, however spend a lot of pages talking about every stat tracking service, every Wordpress plugin that might make your life easier, or each of the dozens of FTP clients on each platform. Speaking of platforms, a note about computers. I harbor no ill will toward Microsoft Windows or PCs. I am, however, a Mac guy. My primary computer is a Mac, my phone is an iPhone, even my router is an Apple Airport Extreme. You will definitely see a Mac bias in this book. Please don’t take offense. Some of my best friends use PCs. 2. Seriously—although some are more popular than others. www.NMXlive.com | @NewMediaExpo | (858) 309-4747 | Copyright © New Media Expo 2012 The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Podcaster | Page 8 I hear some of them even enjoy it! Speaking of—wait, what, I can’t joke about that? Okay, look…the thing I want you to remember most about the PC/Mac debate as it pertains to podcasting is that it doesn’t matter one bit which one you use. Folks can argue pros and cons for each platform until the aliens give Elvis back, but believe me… it doesn’t matter. PC or Mac, your choice. Either works perfectly well. (But Macs are better.) Onward! www.NMXlive.com | @NewMediaExpo | (858) 309-4747 | Copyright © New Media Expo 2012 The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Podcaster | Page 9 Chapter Two: Why Podcast? “That introduction was a little weird,” you’re thinking, “but this podcasting thing is intriguing. Maybe the book could go on about what podcasting is and why I should do it. Maybe there could even be some quotes from working podcasters about why they do it.